House Republicans unveil blueprint to advance Trump's agenda

House Republicans on Wednesday released a blueprint they intend to use to advance President Trump’s legislative agenda, breaking through an impasse that had stymied the conference for days.

The rollout of the budget resolution comes one day before the House Budget Committee is scheduled to debate and advance the resolution, the first step in the budget reconciliation process. The panel is set to consider the measure Thursday at 10 a.m. EST.

And it dropped just as the Senate Budget Committee got underway with a markup for its own budget resolution — which is following a strategy favored by Senate Republicans and opposed by top GOP lawmakers — putting the two chambers on a collision course over Trump’s agenda.

Republicans are looking to use the budget reconciliation process to pass Trump’s domestic policy priorities — including border funding, energy policy and an extension of the 2017 tax cuts — which would allow the party to circumvent Democratic opposition in the Senate.

The budget resolution acts as an outline for the reconciliation process, mandating minimums for spending cuts each committee will be tasked with making over the next 10 years, and a cap for how much the Ways and Means Committee will be allowed to increase the deficit through tax cuts over the coming decade.

The resolution includes a $4.5 trillion cap on the deficit impact of the Republicans’ plan to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, a number the Ways and Means Committee will use to craft the tax portion of the legislation.

It also sets a $100 billion cap on spending for the Armed Services Committee, a $90 billion cap for the Homeland Security Committee and a $110 billion cap for the Judiciary Committee.

And it includes a $4 trillion increase of the debt limit.

On the spending cuts front, the measure lays out minimums for other panels: $230 billion for the Agriculture Committee, $330 billion for the Education and Workforce Committee, $880 billion for the Energy and Commerce Committee, $1 billion for the Financial Services Committee, $1 billion for the Natural Resources Committee, $50 billion for the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and $10 billion for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. That totals a $1.5 trillion floor.

Those high numbers for the Energy and Commerce and Agriculture committees signal that lawmakers may make slashes to federal programs such as food stamps and Medicaid.

Tucked into the 45-page budget resolution is a provision that says “the goal” of the measure is to cut $2 trillion in mandatory spending, noting that if the committees combined do not hit the $2 trillion target, “it is the policy” of the Budget Committee that the Ways and Means instructions for the tax portion of the package “should be reduced by a commensurate amount to offset the difference.”

Arriving at the Capitol on Wednesday, minutes after the text of the budget resolution was released, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters he was confident the resolution would advance through the Budget Committee on Thursday.

“I've been talking with the committee members and this will unlock the process and get us moving, so we're excited about it,” Johnson said.

Asked if he believed the chamber could clear the resolution by the end of this month, which would keep him in line with his initial timeline, Johnson responded, “I do, yeah. That’s the plan.”

The path forward, however, may not be so simple. Republicans will need near-unanimity to clear the budget resolution out of committee and the full chamber, a task that will be difficult with their razor-thin House majority.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who sits on the Budget Committee, told Punchbowl News that he is undecided on the current budget resolution. And Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, sounded off on the $4.5 trillion deficit increase cap after it was floated on Tuesday, accusing supporters of that number of not believing in Trump’s tax policy.

“Let me just say that a 10-year extension of President Trump’s expiring provisions is over $4.7 trillion according to CBO,” Smith told reporters, referring to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). “Anything less would be saying that President Trump is wrong on tax policy.”

The $4.5 trillion number means that Republicans will likely have to pick and choose from Trump’s tax wish list. The president has said he wants the extension of his 2017 tax cuts to be permanent, according to lawmakers who met with him last week, and he has been adamant about doing away with tax on tips, two ideas that will drive up the price tag of the package.

The numbers outlined in the budget resolution could also prompt concern among moderates, who may be worried about Republicans slashing programs like food stamps and Medicaid.

“I’m hearing a lot of concerns on Medicaid from members,” one House Republican told The Hill on Tuesday. “The president has been saying that he doesn’t want the Medicaid cuts and members are concerned about voting for something that is tough and doesn’t have a path.”

The release of the House GOP’s budget resolution comes as Senate Republicans are moving ahead with their own framework, which contrasts with the lower chamber’s strategy.

The House has been adamant that the best way to pass Trump’s agenda is with one sprawling bill, while Senate Republicans are in favor of splitting the priorities into two measures, the first dealing with border and defense and the second addressing tax cuts.

Senate Republicans released a budget resolution for the first of the two bills last week, and began considering it on Wednesday. Johnson, however, has called that measure a “non-starter.”

—Updated at 11:33 a.m. Eastern

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